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pondělí 20. ledna 2014

2011 Jin Dayi and 2012 Yin Dayi

Hello again, dear readers. Due to the fact that we generally need to stay in the place of my studies for most of the day, my tea sessions sort of moved there - which means less time for photos and writing, for which I'm sorry. However, that's just how things are. Besides, I don't have so many new teas these days, so there is not so much to write about.

Before we descend (or ascend?) to the two teas of today's afternoon, let me share a story with you. Beware of Mexican accent! Not only that stories by two lovely Mexicans studying with us make you believe that Mexicans eat dogs (killing them by breaking their neck/spinning them around, holding the dog's neck!) until it becomes obvious that "dogs" are actually "ducks" - all ten or so people believed the dog version for a considerable while! Today, the Mexican pronunciation striked again - when I gave cups of tea (2013 Dayi Snake cake) to fellow people in the place where we study, the reaction by one (a Mexican friend of ours) was "ah, this tea is junk". One is not used to such a forthright reactions in the UK, especially not towards what is basically a gift and definitely not a bad tea. However, all ended well, when I realized the small peculiarity of Mexican pronunciation, that "y" is pronounced more like "j/g" (i.e., something like "dzh") and "junk" was actually "young". Young it is indeed.

2011 Jin Dayi
This is the "gold" Dayi cake. It may be the same price after a couple of years. Originally costing about $35 per cake, only 10g cost $5 at Sampletea now (and I think they generally are quite reasonable in pricing).

The leaves, even after rinsing, provide quite a hard experience to be honest. It smells of dry forest ground, with some mushrooms. It is basically like a rather ordinary young sheng, except it is stronger than most and free of any "light" features, such as sweetness, fruitiness, or things like that.

The liquor has a pleasant color and clarity.
The taste is essentially somewhat ordinary, but strong - woody-clay-like (with a bit of smokiness in the first few infusions). It bears a remote resemblance to aged teas, but without their depth and elegance. It is also quite bitter and very astringent. On a more positive note, the taste does taste rather long and is full-bodied, which sets this cake apart from similarly hard teas, which, on the top, are thin and plainly bad.

Also, the tea built up a decent mouthfeel with good cooling and by the fourth-fifth steeping, it kind of ameliorated my initial "no way" opinion. Still, I did not feel particularly well/comfortable after drinking it.

I believe that the Jin Dayi is a reasonably good tea, which is just totally not going with the fashion of making young teas easily drinkable. But it certainly has enough strength to get somewhere via aging and I suspect that the result will be pleasant. Nevertheless, the price, I'm afraid, escaped from some sort of mental home...

2012 Yin Dayi

This "silver" tea smells much more pleasant and approachable than the "gold", when rinsed. It is very sweet and smells of dark fruit and magnolia.

The taste follows the aroma - it is really unusually sweet (even for this cluster of teas), sugary and full-bodied. It does not have a whole lot of other to tell, except faint dark floweriness (might it be Luoshuidong?).

Despite the lack of particular "tastiness", the fullness of body and overall pleasant and calming feeling is very nicely combined with powerful cooling and vibrations in mouth. This tea feels very positive and soothing (completely unlike the previous tea which attempted to murder me), which is imho a good thing. Whether it does have enough strength to age is another question, but I'm inclined to believe that Dayi people know what they're doing.

Despite this tea's youth, I actually enjoyed drinking it. It is quite a "fancy" thing, in a way of today's single-area expensive cakes. At the same time, I guess the price can be something around $60, which is not too bad...

I.e., today, I believe the saying "Talking is silver, silence is gold" was bolstered. Still, I guess there is a bit of Dayi inflation in the naming (iron and copper might be more suitable). Or, it might be that when the need to have even fancier blends comes, we may yet see mithril, adamantium, or even daedric cakes? The time will tell.

About me

I'm a student of math and computer science in Prague and a tea lover. I'm interested mostly in sheng puerh and wulongs.
I like to learn new things, try new teas and so on - if you are interested in teas I write about, we may exchange some samples.